“Encryption is inexorably tied to our national interests. It is a safeguard for our personal secrets and economic prosperity. It helps to prevent crime and protect national security." – A report from the bipartisan House Judiciary Committee & House Energy and Commerce Committee

Credit Cards

More than 205 million Americans – more than half the population – uses online shopping. While all of these online shoppers apparently are comfortable with the security, a few others are still nervous about using credit cards online. That’s sad as millions of people prove every day that online shopping is safe.

Federal laws specify that you’ll only be liable for up to $50 of any bogus transaction. However, the credit card companies exceed this legal minimum; they will reimburse you for the first $50 as well as the remainder of the charge.

However, if someone needs a bit more assurance, a virtual credit card may be just what they need.

Handbag maker Vera Bradley Inc said on Wednesday hackers may have accessed customer data from payment processing systems in its stores, partly contributing to a delay in an upgrade of its website that could hurt holiday-season sales. The company said hackers may have accessed customer data including card numbers, cardholder names, expiration dates and internal verification codes ‍between July 25 and Sept. 23.

The exact number of cards affected is unclear, spokeswoman Julia Bentley said in an email. Cards used to shop on the company’s website were not affected.

What if the numbers on your card changed every hour so that, even if a fraudster copied them, they’d quickly be out of date? That’s exactly what two French banks are starting to do with their new high-tech ebank cards… The three digits on the back of this card will change, every hour, for three years. And after they change, the previous three digits are essentially worthless, and that’s a huge blow for criminals… As most fraud happens a few hours or days after your card details are actually taken, this would leave criminals essentially with a bunch of useless numbers.

‘Periscope’ Skimmers are installed entirely inside an ATM and are designed to steal your debit card’s or credit card’s numbers. Because they are installed inside the ATM, you will not see any clue there is a skimmer installed when you use the ATM. Crooks who use this type of device eventually will want to capture your PIN so they can later drain your debit account at another ATM.

The US Secret Service task force warned that the devices may have the capability to remain powered within the ATM for up to 14 days and can store up to 32,000 card numbers before exhausting the skimmer’s battery strength and data storage capacity.

If you ate recently at Wendy’s and paid by a credit or debit card, you have two problems: (1.) your choice of diet is shortening your life expectancy and (2.) your card number, name, expiration date and the codes on the card may have been stolen by hackers.

Some of the stolen card numbers have used to make fraudulent purchases at other stores.

If you carry one or more of the new contactless credit cards, you need to know about a new hacking scam that can steal your card’s information while it is still in your pocket.

Contactless Debit Cards are used on terminals that display the above symbol.

A criminal group using the name of The CC Buddies is selling a hi-tech device on the Dark Web that’s capable of copying details from contactless debit cards if held as close as eight centimeters away from a victim’s card. Obviously, eight centimeters is rather close but such closeness is not unusual at a rock concert or in a jammed subway car. The thief can simply walk past you, perhaps brushing up against you, and the Contactless Infusion X5 device the thief is carrying in his backpack or briefcase copies the information from your card.

MasterCard has launched MasterCard Send, a personal payments service that enables funds to be sent quickly and securely to consumers domestically and internationally. The announcement never mentioned Bitcoins by name but it certainly appears to be a reaction to competition from the rapidly-growing popularity of the new digital currency and also as a reaction to PayPal’s very popular payment system.

In fact, Bitcoin is less of a currency and more of a method of quickly and easily transferring funds at almost no cost. Bitcoin works well with both domestic and international money transfers. While not totally anonymous, Bitcoin transfers are difficult to trace. In order to compete, the new MasterCard Send service promises to be easy to use and available to everyone, even to non-techies. However, personal privacy apparently is not a goal of MasterCard Send. All information about a financial transfer, including identifying information of both parties, is available to MasterCard. Government agencies presumably will also be able to obtain the information with an easy-to-obtain court order.

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